We'll go ahead and take our seats.
And turn our hymnals to song 166, thanks for coming to Steadfast Baptist Church.
If you'll please take your seats and turn your hymnals to song 166.
I will praise Him.
Thank you for coming.
Turn to your hymnals, 166.
I will praise Him.
They're on the first.
When I saw the cleansing fountain, hope and white for all my sin.
I obeyed the Spirit's wooing, when He said, Wilt Thou be clean?
I will praise Him.
Praise the Lamb for sinners slain.
Give Him glory, all ye people, for His blood can wash away each stain.
Though the way seemed straight and narrow, all I claimed was slept away.
My ambitions, plans and wishes at my feet in ashes lay.
I will praise Him.
Praise the Lamb for sinners slain.
Give Him glory, all ye people, for His blood can wash away each stain.
Then God's fire upon the altar of my Lord was set aflame.
I shall never cease to praise Him.
Glory, glory to His name.
I will praise Him.
Praise the Lamb for sinners slain.
Give Him glory, all ye people, for His blood can wash away each stain.
Blessed be the name of Jesus.
I'm so glad He took me in.
He's forgiven my transgressions.
He has cleansed my heart from sin.
I will praise Him.
Praise the Lamb for sinners slain.
Give Him glory, all ye people, for His blood can wash away each stain.
Glory, glory to the Father.
Glory, glory to the Son.
Glory, glory to the Spirit.
Glory to the three in one.
I will praise Him.
Praise the Lamb for sinners slain.
Give Him glory, all ye people, for His blood can wash away each stain.
Let's start with a prayer this evening.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this opportunity to be gathered.
Thank you for allowing us to sing praises unto Your name.
I pray that You bless all aspects of this service,
that You would help us to be stirred up in our spirits
as we hear the word of God being preached,
and that we would draw closer to You and want to serve You more.
And in Jesus' name we pray, Amen.
Let's go to our next song.
We're going to go to 406.
406.
Who is on the Lord's side?
406.
Who is on the Lord's side?
They're on the first.
Who is on the Lord's side?
Who will serve the King?
Who will be His helpers?
Other lives to bring.
Who will leave the world's side?
Who will face the fold?
Who is on the Lord's side?
Who for Him will go?
By Thy call of mercy, by Thy grace divine,
we are on the Lord's side.
Savior, we are thine, not for weight of glory,
not for crown and palm.
Enter we the army, raise the warrior's song.
But for love that claimeth, lives for whom he died.
He whom Jesus nameth must be on His side.
By Thy love constraining, by Thy grace divine,
we are on the Lord's side.
Savior, we are thine.
Jesus, Thou hast bought us, not with gold or gem.
With Thy vile lifeblood for Thy diadem,
with Thy blessing filling, He too comes to Thee.
Thou hast made us willing, Thou hast made us free.
By Thy grand redemption, by Thy grace divine,
we are on the Lord's side.
Savior, we are thine.
Fierce may be the conflict, strong may be the foe.
But the king's own army, none can overthrow.
Round his standard ranging, victories is secure.
For his truth unchanging makes the triumph sure.
Joyfully enlisting, by Thy grace divine,
we are on the Lord's side.
Savior, we are thine.
Thank you so much for joining.
If you need a bulletin, we have a lot of extra over here.
Our ushers can come by and get you a bulletin.
Just lift your hand nice and high.
We have on the front our Bible memory passage,
John chapter 1, verse 22.
And if you're 18 or under, able to quote the memory verse,
we've got some special pieces of candy over here for you.
On the inside, we have our service and soul winning times.
And then we also have our church stats down below.
Make sure to report your salvations to your soul winning
captain, lieutenant.
And if you have any maps, make sure you're
turning in those appropriately as well.
Continue to pray for all of our expecting ladies,
as we also have our prayer list.
I'm going to go over that real quick.
Continue to pray for the Negara family, for their health,
for Miss Lucy's mother's tumors.
For the Cameron Hall's leg, continue
to pray for our friends abroad, Verde Baptiste vanilla
and Pastor Kevin Sepulveda.
Miss Sarah Cardona was asking for a prayer
for comfort and recovery.
Continue to pray for the Goodwin family,
for their health and recovery.
There's her minnow family.
Continue to pray for their family.
Brother Paul Weathers' dad, Larry, we were praying
for his back and leg pain.
Continue to pray for the Oz family.
They've been a little sick, and so hopefully
they'll be back to full steam as well.
And so we got a lot of various health concerns there,
and various prayer requests.
If you have some other prayer requests,
try to submit those in, and we'll do our best
to put those up in the bulletin.
And we try to update that every week,
so just try to update us, steadfastbaptistkjv.gmail.com.
I do wanna say just another quick word of prayer
for those that were mentioned here.
Thank you, Heavenly Father, for this evening.
Thank you so much for our church family.
I pray that you would just be with all the ladies
that are expecting, that you would just help them
with their pregnancy, help them with their children's
and development.
I pray that you would give them strength,
and do time, and give them a timely delivery.
I pray that you would also just help our church family
that's struggling in health, that you would help
touch their body, if you'd give them health and favor,
that you would just give them strength,
that you would give them peace.
Pray that you'd be with our friends abroad,
that you could strengthen their hearts,
you could constantly encourage them through their efforts,
help give them blessings as they go out soul winning.
I pray that you would also just open doors for them.
I pray that you would just continue to open doors
for soul winning for all of us,
and allow the gospel to keep going freely,
and for us to have great opportunities in 2022.
Pray that you would help our other families,
our church family, their various concerns and needs.
We know that you know them better than we do,
and I pray that you would just give them favor,
and you would help us all to have a zeal
to continue to serve you.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
On the back we have a note about a small town
soul winning blitz, it's this Saturday.
So this is, can be spearheaded by brother Jason West
and brother Marcel Lugo, and they're teaming up,
and that's a dynamic duo, so you know,
you wanna get in there, and it's gonna be in Decatur.
Decatur is, what is that, north, about like 30 minutes,
40 minutes from here probably, something like that.
So it's not too far, and they'll be meeting at 930
for coffee and donuts at Harmon Park.
The address is 351 East Mill Street,
and so if you wanna meet up for some coffee and donuts
in the morning, then they'll go out soul winning
at about 10 a.m.
If you have any questions about it,
the best people to ask is brother West and brother Marcel.
So just see one of those guys, they're back here,
and we're gonna have them wrestle to see who wins
and I'm just kidding.
So hopefully, see if the young blood or the old man's got it,
no I'm just kidding.
And then down below we have the note
about the homeschool field trip, Mother's Day tea.
Just keep your eye out for emails about details for that,
and then also we have the Austin, Texas
soul winning marathon coming up May 21st.
So a lot of great opportunities there.
That's pretty much all I have at this time.
Let's go to our third song, 351.
Song 351.
Tell it to Jesus, song 351.
351, tell it to Jesus, they're on the first.
Are you weary, are you heavy hearted?
Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus.
Are you grieving, overjoys departed?
Tell it to Jesus alone.
Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus.
He is a friend that's well known.
You've no other such a friend or brother.
Tell it to Jesus alone.
Do the tears flow down your cheeks unbidden?
Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus.
Have you sins that to men's eyes are hidden?
Tell it to Jesus alone.
Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus.
He is a friend that's well known.
You've no other such a friend or brother.
Tell it to Jesus alone.
Do you fear the gathering clouds of sorrow?
Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus.
Are you anxious, what shall be tomorrow?
Tell it to Jesus alone.
Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus.
He is a friend that's well known.
You've no other such a friend or brother.
Tell it to Jesus alone.
Are you troubled at the thought of dying?
Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus.
For Christ's coming kingdom are you sighing?
Tell it to Jesus alone.
Tell it to Jesus, tell it to Jesus.
He is a friend that's well known.
You've no other such a friend or brother.
Tell it to Jesus alone.
You can turn your Bibles to 2 Samuel chapter three.
Before I get there, I just love this song
and I love that we sing hymns
because you gotta think of it,
it just feels like a kindred spirit
when we sing things like this.
Because you know the first one,
are you weary and heavy hearted?
That's not Joel Osteen's type of Christianity.
You know, your best life now.
And then the second one,
if you have sins that are hidden,
it says to tell it to Jesus alone
so we can just get a jab in those Catholics, right?
You don't have to go and confess your sins
to some priests or something like that.
You tell it to Jesus alone.
And then think about the fourth one.
He's like, are you troubled at the thought of dying?
I mean, these guys aren't pre-trib.
I mean, hey, those pre-tribbers are going out there
worried about the sorrow and the tribulation
before Christ's coming.
And see here, these people know like,
hey, are you troubled at the idea of dying for Christ
and when Christ is coming and everything like that?
And so, you know, you can't replace the hymns.
You know, they're timeless classics.
And so I just wanted to throw that in there
just because I like ribbon Catholics, all right?
So we're gonna read Second Samuel, chapter number three,
follow along as Brother Ben reads for us,
and we'll pass the operating plate.
Second Samuel, chapter three, excuse me.
Second Samuel, chapter three.
The Bible reads in verse one.
Now there was long war between the house of Saul
and the house of David,
but David waxed stronger and stronger
and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker.
And unto David were sons born in Hebron
and his firstborn was Amnon of Ahinoam, the Jezreelitess,
and his second, Kiliab of Abigail,
the wife of Nabal, the Carmelite,
and the third, Absalom, the son of Maacah,
the daughter of Talmai, king of Gishur,
and the fourth, Adonijah, the son of Hagith,
and the fifth, Shephatiah, the son of Abital,
and the sixth, Ephraim, by Eglat, David's wife.
These were born to David in Hebron.
And it came to pass while there was war
between the house of David and the house of,
the house of Saul and the house of David,
that Abner made himself strong for the house of Saul.
And Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah,
the daughter of Aya, and Ishbasheth, said to Abner,
wherefore hast thou gone in unto thy father's concubine?
Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ishbasheth,
and said, am I a dog's head,
which against Judah do show kindness this day
unto the house of Saul thy father,
to his brethren and to his friends,
and have not delivered thee into the hand of David,
that thou chargest me today with a fault
concerning this woman?
So do God to Abner, and more also,
except as the Lord hath sworn to David,
even so I do to him,
to translate the kingdom from the house of Saul,
and to set up the throne of David over Israel
and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba.
And he could not answer Abner a word again,
because he feared him.
And Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf, saying,
whose is the land, saying also, make thy league with me,
and behold, my hand shall be with thee,
to bring about all Israel unto thee.
And he said, well, I will make a league with thee,
but one thing I require of thee,
that is, thou shalt not see my face,
except thou first bring Michal, Saul's daughter,
when thou comest to see my face.
And David sent messengers to Ishbasheth, Saul's son, saying,
deliver me my wife Michal, which I espouse to me
for an hundred foreskins of the Philistines.
And Ishbasheth sent and took her from her husband,
even from Phaltiel, the son of Laish.
And her husband went with her along,
weeping behind her to Bahurim,
then said Abner unto him, go return, and he returned.
And Abner had communication with the elders of Israel,
saying, ye sought for David in times past
to be king over you.
Now then do it, for the Lord had spoken of David,
saying, by the hand of my servant David,
I will save my people Israel
out of the hand of the Philistines
and out of the hand of all their enemies.
And Abner also spake in the ears of Benjamin,
and Abner went also to speak in the ears of David and Hebron
all that seemed good to Israel,
and that seemed good to the whole house of Benjamin.
So Abner came to David to Hebron and 20 men with him,
and David made Abner and the men that were with him a feast.
And Abner said unto David, I will arise and go,
and will gather all Israel unto my Lord the king,
that they make a league with thee,
and that thou mayest reign over all that thine heart desireth.
And David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.
And behold, the servants of David and Joab
came from pursuing a troop
and brought in a great spoil with them.
But Abner was not with David and Hebron,
for he had sent him away, and he was gone in peace.
When Joab and all the hosts that was with him were come,
they told Joab, saying, Abner the son of Nair
came to the king, and he had sent him away,
and he is gone in peace.
Then Joab came to the king and said,
what hast thou done?
Behold, Abner came unto thee.
Why is it that thou hast sent him away, and he is quite gone?
Thou knowest, Abner the son of Nair,
that he came to deceive thee,
and to know thy going out and thy coming in,
and to know all that thou doest.
And when Joab was come out from David,
he sent messengers after Abner,
which brought him again from the well of Cyra,
but David knew it not.
And when Abner was returned to Hebron,
Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly,
and smote him there under the fifth rib that he died
for the blood of Asahel, his brother.
And afterward, when David heard it, he said,
I and my kingdom are guiltless before the Lord forever
from the blood of Abner the son of Nair.
Let it rest on the head of Joab,
and on all his father's house,
and let there not fail from the house of Joab
one that hath an issue, or that is a leper,
or that leaneth on a staff, or that falleth on the sword,
or that lacketh bread.
So Joab and Abishai his brother slew Abner,
because he had slain their brother Asahel
at Gibeon in the battle.
And David said to Joab and to all the people
that were with him, rend your clothes,
and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner.
And King David himself followed the buyer.
And they buried Abner in Hebron,
and the king lifted up his voice,
and then wept at the grave of Abner,
and all the people wept.
And the king lamented over Abner, and said,
died Abner as a fool, dieth?
Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters.
As a man falleth before wicked men, so fellest thou?
And all the people wept again over him.
And when all the people came to cause David to eat meat
while it was yet day, David sware, saying,
so do God to me, and more also, if I taste bread,
or aught else, till the sun be down.
And all the people took notice of it, and it pleased them,
as whatsoever the king did pleased all the people.
For all the people in all Israel understood that they,
that it was not of the king to slay Abner, the son of Nair.
And the king said unto his servants,
know ye not that there was a prince and a great man
fallen this day in Israel?
And I am this day weak, though anointed king,
and these men, the sons of Zariariah, be too hard for me.
The Lord shall reward the doer of evil
according to his wickedness.
Let's fire our heads for a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you for 2 Samuel chapter three,
and for our church service this evening.
I pray that you fill Pastor Shirley with your spirit,
and help him to explain the chapter to us,
and also help us to pay close attention
so we can learn more about your word,
and take some lessons home with us
as we live the Christian life to the best of our ability.
In the Jesus name, in Jesus name I pray, amen.
Amen.
So we're in 2 Samuel chapter number three,
and really, it was a very long chapter.
To me, there's kind of a theme that really was,
in my mind, just kind of sticking out
as I would read through this chapter,
and kind of think about a lot of the stories.
And it's really just the idea of the consequences of sin.
Just the consequences of sin.
It just feels like as you read this chapter,
you constantly see just the consequences of sin
in so many people's lives in this chapter.
And most of the characters that we have
in this particular chapter,
they're not like really bad guys.
It's not like we have Judas, and Pharaoh, and Caiaphas.
We have really a lot of people
that are kind of on the Lord's side.
There's still children of Israel at the end of the day.
There's still basically God's chosen people.
It's kind of a mixed bag of quote unquote Christians,
or quote unquote saved people.
Yet we see a lot of consequences for everyone's actions.
And that's because while salvation is an absolute free gift
and we go to heaven by simply trusting in Christ one time,
that does not mean that there aren't
severe consequences to our sin.
That does not mean that how we live our lives
isn't very important.
You know, why do we have church three times a week
if salvation's so free and so easy, right?
We don't have church three times a week to get to heaven.
We don't have church three times a week
to prove that we're on our way to heaven.
We have church three times a week
because we realize that this life is hard,
and that sin is very real,
and that serving God takes a full commitment,
and that we need a constant reminder
of why we don't just live a life of sin,
why we don't live like the rest of the world,
why we actually separate ourselves,
and we try to draw nigh unto God.
You know, God wants people
to put in a lot of effort to serve Him,
just like all of us.
All of us would love that idea.
I mean, if you were to say, hey,
do you want a husband that's gonna provide
for all of your needs and constantly be there for you
and put a lot of effort, energy in your relationship,
or do you just want him to just phone it in, you know?
Or do you want a wife that's gonna make sure
that she's cooking and baking and cleaning
and doing all the work and never complaining
and doing everything you want?
I mean, it's like, of course, we want an all-in,
just a full-service type spouse, right?
But then why would we not think
that God wants the same from us
in the sense that He wants us
to be in full service towards Him,
that He wants us to constantly praise Him,
think about Him, serve Him?
Of course He does, and of course there's a reward
to those that do that.
You know, there's a reward to those that invest in marriage
so they have a good marriage.
Those that have a reward that invest in their children,
they have great children.
You know, wherever you're sowing,
you're gonna end up reaping.
And here's the bad thing.
If you're sowing a lot of sin,
you're gonna reap a lot of sin.
Look at verse number one.
Now there was a long war between the house of Saul
and the house of David,
and David waxed stronger and stronger,
and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker.
And unto David were sons born in Hebron,
and his firstborn was Amnon of Ahinoim, the Jezreelitess.
Now this is what I think about,
because often you read in the Bible,
and a lot of the men of the Bible have multiple wives.
I mean, it's just a very common theme.
And it doesn't seem like God really does anything about that.
Like most of the time, you don't really see God
just saying like, well, this guy got another wife,
so we killed him, you know?
Or this guy had five wives, so I killed him for it.
You know, it almost seems like he allows them
to go to the extreme too.
I mean, you got people like Solomon,
who are literally having 700 wives, 300 concubines.
It's like, if God was gonna kill somebody
for having an extra wife,
I mean, how many do you have to get to, right?
I mean, it just seems like you just get
to have all these wives.
And you know, for some men, especially really carnal men,
they would think, well, that sounds great.
I mean, you know, and obviously maybe not wives,
maybe the concubine section,
but I mean, you look at the world today,
I mean, what are most guys doing?
They're wanting to be with all kinds of women,
have girlfriends on the side and mistresses on the side
and have all these extra women.
And consistently throughout the Bible,
men are constantly wanting to have extra women.
And it just feels like, man,
they're just all getting away with it.
Like that doesn't seem, it doesn't seem right.
But here's the thing, they're not getting away with it.
Now here is the first marriage of David
that's not with his first wife,
because his first wife is my cow.
So the next relationship,
and I don't know if he got married to her first
or to Abigail, but essentially around the same time
he got married to these other two women.
But this is one of the first relationships he has
with a woman outside of his first marriage.
And this is for sure his first child, right?
This is the first product.
His firstborn son is who Amnon,
who ends up becoming a rapist who rapes his own sister,
takes advantage of his own sister
and then is killed by his brother.
Now, you gotta think about this.
How is that not a punishment, right?
How is that not a horrible consequence?
And in fact, you think all the positive
that comes from having an extra wife,
was it really worth it if you said,
hey, you get a rapist son out of the deal.
It's like, normal guys would be like, you know what,
that's not worth, that relationship's not worth it
if I get this kind of a heartache
and this kind of a headache out of it.
And honestly, all the benefits of that marriage
were probably upfront, right?
It's down the road, it's gonna get worse and worse
and not be as much fun,
especially when you start racking up wives.
I can't imagine when you rack up wives
that the first few relationships end up getting better.
It seems like they usually get worse, right?
Why did you add another wife if you were so satisfied
with the previous one, right?
And it's kind of like Leah and Rachel,
it's like Rachel's kind of the newest one.
So Leah kind of gets to,
she doesn't get as much attention,
she's not as cared for as much,
she's kind of the leftovers as it were.
And so you kind of imagine that's probably what happened.
Why do you think he raised a son
that ended up being a rapist?
Probably because he's not putting that much time
and effort and energy in Amnon's life.
But how can David, right?
I mean, you think like, how does a man have 10 wives
and all these children with it?
I mean, I can hardly keep up with one wife.
I can't imagine 10 wives,
I can't even imagine that many children, right?
You know, and the Bible says, be not righteous over much.
Why shouldest thou destroy thyself?
And that's something that we have to constantly
be reminded of and constantly guard ourselves over
in the thought of like,
why do I wanna have all this extra?
Is it gonna really benefit me?
Can I even manage it?
Can I even take care of it?
You know, God is gonna bless you
with things that you knows you can take care of.
And you know what?
God knows that we can take care of children.
That's why he blesses them with us.
He knows we can take care of a spouse.
But you know, he didn't give us 20 spouses.
He didn't give us, you know, 50 kids, right?
Because, you know, 50 kids just gets to a point
where you won't even know all their names.
I mean, you wouldn't even be able to take care
of all that many children, right?
And when David starts just multiplying wives
and multiplying children,
it ends up getting really bad.
Look at the next relationship.
Says in his second,
Kiliab of Abigail, the wife of Nabal, the Carmelite.
So around the same time,
he got married to these two ladies.
First one is, you know, forces his sister.
The second one, we never hear about ever.
Like the only other mention of this person
is in another chronology in 1 Chronicles
and his name is Daniel there.
I don't know.
But then that's the only time we hear about Daniel.
You know, Daniel, Kiliab, I guess it's his middle name,
last name, I don't know how it works.
But it's like another great relationship,
another great product by David,
someone that does absolutely nothing.
So you get the guy that's just a complete loser,
does nothing, right?
Just a complete no name, no benefit, no positive mention.
And then you get the guy that's literally
probably the worst mention you could possibly imagine.
How about the third?
Let's see, the third time's a charm, right?
The first is the worst, the second is the best,
the third's the one with the hairy chest.
Let's see.
And the third, Absalom.
Oops.
You know, Absalom is one of the greatest pictures
of the Antichrist in the Bible.
Absalom literally overthrows his own father's kingdom
and sleeps with his father's wives.
I mean, we're not, this is not a great family treat.
This is like Jerry Springer for real.
In fact, he might even make
some of the Jerry Springer families blush.
I mean, when we start talking about David's family
and all these women and all these children,
it's like, who's the father?
It's David, you know, it's like.
But this is not a great family treat.
Says the son of Manacah,
the daughter of Talmai, king of Gishur,
and the fourth, Adonijah, the son of Magath.
I mean, man, it just keeps getting worse and worse.
You know, if Absalom wasn't enough overthrowing the kingdom,
well, then Adonijah tries it again later in the Bible.
And I know I'm giving, I'm kind of foreshadowing
a lot of these things that are happening.
But why is the Bible bringing up this randomly?
Why is it just like, oh yeah,
and David had this kid with this person
and this kid with this wife and this kid with this wife.
God's helping you paint you a picture.
They're all bad.
And notice that every single one of these relationships
is just like bad on bad on bad on bad on bad.
You know, he finally gets to Bathsheba,
which is not mentioned here
because we're talking about Hebron in this context.
And the first child dies as a result of David's sin.
Now, of course, we end up getting Solomon.
And we see that God's grace can still work a miracle
even despite sin, even despite a bad situation.
But we don't want to discount
David's really bad decision making in his life
and not understand that there is serious,
serious consequences to our sin.
And, you know, oftentimes some of the worst people,
and I'm just saying this because it's very observable,
some of the worst people are born out of a bad relationship.
A relationship that never intended to have a child.
A relationship where the mom and dad aren't together.
They don't love one another.
They don't get married.
They're not raising the child.
And they allow that child to just basically
go to whomever, wherever.
Oftentimes when you meet some of these really bad people,
that's typically their upbringing.
And in fact, you know, I preached a whole sermon on this,
but the mass serial killers, like the mass shooters,
there is a common denominator in all of them.
The fact that they had a horrible father,
either just completely non-existent or very abusive,
or just, you know, some kind of combination they're in.
You know, they're not having a great father relationship
and what is it doing?
It's destroying their life.
And you say, well, you know what?
No one really knows me and I'm not that great
and I don't make that much money.
But here's the thing,
do you put a lot of effort and energy
in your children's lives?
Because you know what?
That makes you a great person.
You know, it's not all about ourselves.
Sometimes we have to realize
that we need to just invest in our children
and turn our children to the Lord
and allow our children to be great people
instead of having all these selfish accolades,
because we could be selfish like Absalom
and build a great pillar in our own name,
but then what'll happen is we'll destroy ourselves
and our children.
Rather than humbling ourselves
and investing into our children,
trying to raise really godly children,
trying to do good unto our children,
and then allowing them to, you know,
be magnified or elevated in due time.
You know, I think sometimes we worry about
making a name for ourselves
rather than what are my children's lives gonna be like?
You know, and I don't wanna have a ministry where,
you know, well, Pastor Shelley was great,
but all of his children turned out like crap.
You know, I'd rather be like,
well, Pastor Shelley was an okay pastor,
but he had some great children.
You know, I'll be honest with you,
I would rather, I would push that button right now.
And we have to balance our lives.
You know, I don't wanna,
oh, I got 600 people saved every single year,
but all of my children went to the devil.
Sorry, I don't think that that's honorable.
I don't think that that's a great way to go down.
You know, and it's David.
David did a great work for the Lord.
David is the man after God's own heart.
But you know what?
David has a lot of problems in the Bible.
David has a lot of serious sin issues in the Bible.
And you know what?
It's not right that he had all these relationships,
and we see a lot of horrible children
coming as a result of these relationships,
a lot of problems for him, a lot of headaches,
and really, it kind of soured David's reputation.
And so we wanna make sure
that we don't go down David's path,
because I think a lot of us,
especially if you're in this room today,
I mean, you probably already started on a pretty good path,
taking Bible serious, start going soul-winning,
doing a lot of good works for the Lord.
But you know what?
We wanna finish strong too.
We want our children to carry that Christian legacy,
that God-fearing, you know, soul-winning legacy.
We don't just want to raise a whole generation
that's just gonna go into the ways of this world.
There's a lot of Baptist churches
where it's like everyone's 50 and above,
60 and above, no youth.
And the youth aren't coming back to that church.
They'll never go to that church.
I mean, except for on Easter,
except for when they come back into town
and see mom and dad, maybe, barely.
But you know what?
That church will die with that 50-year-old generation.
It will die with that 60-year-old generation.
And we're gonna see a huge gap in this world.
You know, I don't want to raise my children
to go attend Gateway later,
to go and attend some Southern Baptist church later,
some liberal, Todd White's church, lifestyle Christianity.
You know, I don't want them to go
and basically become some weak, watered-down,
lame, sissified version of Christianity.
No, I want them to serve God.
So you know what I'm gonna do?
I'm gonna drag them to church,
and I'm gonna read them the Bible,
and I'm gonna teach them the love of God,
and I wanna invest in my children
and not just see how many women I can shack up with.
And a lot of men want to do that.
It's not an honorable way to live your life.
Look what it says in the next family.
Then the fifth, Shevetiah, the son of Abital,
another no-name, and the sixth,
Ethrium by Egla, David's wife.
These were born to David, and he brought.
So it's just either a no-name loser or a complete scumbag.
That was the result of all these relationships, right?
It says in verse six,
And it came to pass,
while there was war between the house of Saul
and the house of David,
Abner made himself strong for the house of Saul.
And Saul had a concubine whose name was Rizpah,
the daughter of Aiah and Ish-bosheth, said to Abner,
Wherefore hast thou gone into my father's concubine?
Then was Abner very wroth for the words of Ish-bosheth,
and said, Am I a dog's head,
which against Judah do show kindness this day
unto the house of Saul thy father,
to his brethren and to his friends,
and have not delivered thee into the hand of David,
that thou chargest me today
with a fault concerning this woman?
Now, what's so funny about this is it's like,
Abner cannot take correction at all, okay?
Of course, what Ish-bosheth said is right.
You know, why are you going and sleeping around,
especially with my father's concubine?
You know, it doesn't say here that he made her his wife.
It doesn't say he took a woman
and he made an honest woman out of her.
It's just like, hey, I'll just go and commit fornication
with some concubine or whatever.
And that's obviously a sin, okay?
That's obviously wrong.
But as soon as he gets rebuked for his sin,
by Ish-bosheth, Abner gets really mad
and basically lashes out.
And let me be honest,
usually when you call people out on sin, they get mad.
Oh, why are you calling me out for fornication?
You're a sinner too.
That's usually their comeback, okay?
And that's basically what Abner's comeback is.
And he's also like, you think I'm stupid like a dog?
He says, Am I a dog's head?
And he says, Why a dog's head?
Because dogs are stupid, okay?
They're a dumb animal and dogs just go around
just looking for the next thing to hump or whatever.
So, you know, he's like, am I a dog's head or whatever?
And it's just like, you know,
why have I not just delivered you to David?
Verse nine, so do God to Abner and more also accept
as the Lord has sworn to David,
even so I do to him to translate the kingdom
from the house of Saul and to set up the throne of David
over Israel and over Judah from Dan even to Beersheba.
And he could not answer Abner word again
because he feared him.
Now, let me explain what's happening.
And this is really important on both sides of the equation,
okay?
Ishmael said this pointing out that Abner is sinning
by committing fornication.
So then Abner's like, look, if you wanna rebuke me
for sinning, then let's talk about some sin, okay?
You wanna point out some sin?
Here's some sin.
Why in the heck are we rebelling against David?
God already said the kingdom's David's.
So if we're gonna sit here and actually be righteous,
okay, then we're gonna go ahead
and just give the kingdom back to David then.
And basically what he's trying to point out is,
hey, if you're not living a righteous life,
it's gonna be really hard to rebuke people for their sin.
You know, Ishmael is not a righteous guy
doing the righteous thing.
So when he rebuked somebody, all they're gonna do is like,
well, look at your obvious sin, buddy.
Look at your obvious problem.
He's basically, you're a hypocrite.
And he's like, look, if you're living the righteous life,
if you're doing that which is right,
it's a lot harder for the person to argue with you.
Meaning what?
It's really important to live a clean life.
It's really important to be a clean vessel.
And you know what?
Sometimes this even happens in our lives
and it's embarrassing, isn't it?
Isn't it embarrassing to bring up your family members,
your friends, the Bible way to heaven
and they basically rebuke you
because they know the sin that's in your life.
Or they know sins you've done in your past.
And they're basically like, who are you to tell me
what to do or how to live or whatever?
Why are you saying this or doing this?
If you try to tell people like, hey, I go to church,
I try to live a clean life.
And they're like, why?
You're always late to work.
You're ripping off the boss.
You're doing, you're lazy on the job or whatever.
Because of your bad testimony, it can sour the gospel.
It can sour your message when you try to talk to people.
And because of Ishvosheth's sin, okay,
because Ishvosheth's not in the right,
it's gonna end up causing Abner to completely desert him.
Because there's no honor amongst thieves.
You know, if you have a bandit,
you have a group or a band of robbers
and they start trying to get clean,
that's not gonna really work out.
It's like, look, we're robbers here.
Like, you know, why are you trying to tell me about the law?
It'd be like, hey, that money we stole,
are you gonna pay taxes on it?
It's like, pay taxes on it?
Like, what are you talking about?
We're thieves.
It's like, how does this make any sense?
It's like, you really wanna get onto me about fornication
when you're rebelling against David,
the rightful heir of the throne?
It's like, look, if I'm gonna get right with God,
you know where I'm gonna start?
I'm gonna start by giving the kingdom back to David.
You want me to be right?
You want me to be righteous?
Okay, let's start with go ahead
and giving the kingdom back to David then.
It's basically what he's saying, okay?
And so you gotta be careful of what you wish for there.
You know, and of course, if Ishvosheth was a righteous guy
or wanting to do that, which is right,
he'd be like, you know, you're right.
Let's go give the kingdom back to David.
But now he's just afraid
that he's basically upset his general,
upset the guy that's given him all this power.
Says in verse number 12,
and Abner sent messengers to David on his behalf saying,
whose is the land?
Saying also, make thy league with me,
and behold, my hand shall be with thee
to bring about all Israel unto thee.
And he said, well, I will make a league with thee.
One thing I require of thee,
that is, thou should not see my face
except thou bring Michael Saul's daughter
when thou comest to see my face.
So Abner's like, you know what?
I'm done with Ishvosheth, let's go to David.
And he basically says, hey, I just wanna make peace.
And David's like, no problem, let's make peace.
But you gotta bring me my first wife
because he doesn't have enough, you know, obviously.
He's gotta collect them all, right?
And so he's gonna go get her.
Verse 14, and David sent messengers to Ishvosheth's son,
saying, deliver me my wife Michael,
which I espoused to me for 100 foreskins of the Philistines.
And Ishvosheth sent and took her from her husband,
even from Felthiel, the son of Laish.
And her husband went with her along,
weeping behind her to Bahurim,
then said Abner unto him, go return, and he returned.
Now, let's just think about this.
We've seen consequences for David's relationships,
with his bad children.
We've seen Ishvosheth for not being in the righteous battle.
He's gonna lose his general,
and everybody's gonna turn on him
because he wasn't a righteous guy to start out with.
We have Abner committing fornication, which we'll get to, okay?
Then we have, Michael was given to Felthiel, okay?
Now, I don't really get too, too mad at Michael here
because we don't really know how much say she had in this.
She's a woman, so her dad's like,
his wife now.
Really, you know where I put all the blame is on Felthiel,
okay?
Felthiel should not have married Michael.
She's already David's wife.
That's not right.
That's not legitimate.
And notice, when you marry this woman
that's not really yours, what ends up happening,
she ends up going back to the first one.
You know, and that actually happens quite a bit,
where women, they basically try to get with a guy
just to make their first husband
or their first boyfriend jealous,
but they don't actually like you.
They don't, you know, you're just a Felthiel to them.
You know, they're like, who cares?
You know, I don't really like you.
I just wanted to make him jealous.
I just wanted something to do, I was bored, you know?
And then whenever David comes back in the picture,
they'll just drop you like a bad habit.
Meaning, you know, you don't want that kind of woman.
You don't go after the woman that's already been taken.
You don't want to go after her
that was already another man's.
You should just leave that off limits.
And then notice, he ends up losing it.
Why?
Because it wasn't his legitimately.
It wasn't his to start out with, you know,
it was a foolish errand for Felthiel to get it.
And so he suffers the consequences
of losing this wife forever now, okay?
She goes back to David and he weeps.
So, you know, he's really, you know,
bad reputation in the Bible, the crying Felthiel, okay?
And verse 17, it says,
in Abnerite communication with the elders of Israel,
saying, ye suffered David in times past
to be king over you.
Now then do it.
For the Lord has spoken of David,
saying by the hand of my servant David,
I will save my people Israel
out of the hand of the Philistines
and out of the hand of all their enemies.
You know, what's so interesting
is how Abner just knows the Bible so well.
And he knew the whole time
that David was the rightful guy
and just didn't really care.
It's like, it doesn't seem like he's very ignorant.
I mean, he's the one constantly bringing up the Bible.
He was bringing up the Bible, rebuking Ishmael Seth.
Then when he talks to the elders, he's like,
hey, let me preach to you guys the Bible real quick.
Let me tell you, David's the right guy.
You know, I don't know why
we weren't following him from the beginning, okay?
I think it's, here's the problem with Abner.
He kind of is gaslighting a little bit, okay?
Because really, why did they do that?
Because Abner's the one that appointed Ishmael Seth.
It wasn't like the children of Israel were like,
hey, let's make Ishmael Seth the king.
Abner made him the king.
Why did Abner make him the king?
So he could be second in charge, right?
So that he could get power and wealth.
But what was some of those things that Abner wanted?
Oh yeah, some like women on the side, okay?
But as soon as Ishmael Seth's kind of raining on that parade,
he's like, what's the point now?
Let's just go ahead and hook up with David, you know?
And then when he goes to the Israel, he's like,
hey, why'd you guys not take David?
You know, remember?
Like, David's the right guy.
And it's like, you're the one that put in Ishmael Seth,
you know?
So he's just kind of changing there.
And you know, a lot of these generals
are really good at gaslighting.
And we'll get to Job here in a minute.
Now it says in verse number 20,
or verse 19,
And Abner also spake in the ears of Benjamin.
Abner went also to speak in the ears of David and Hebron,
all that seemed good to Israel,
and all that seemed good to the whole house of Benjamin.
So Abner came to David, to Hebron, and 20 men with him.
And David made Abner and the men that were with him a feast.
And Abner said unto David, I will arise and go,
and will gather all Israel, and my Lord the king,
that they may make a league with thee,
and that thou mayest reign over all thine heart,
Zareth.
And David sent Abner away, and he went in peace.
Now, I don't really necessarily see the faith aspect
in this chapter, but I kind of get a general sense here,
that Abner kind of pictures us,
and David here is kind of picturing Christ.
And what's interesting is Abner really does not deserve
peace with David whatsoever, but he just gets it anyways.
It was so easy.
He just kind of asked for it, and he just kind of got it.
I understand that there was the wife situation too,
but it kind of just makes me think of us,
and it's like, we just asked for salvation, and we get it,
even though we really don't deserve it,
and we're kind of a scumbag, you know?
And Abner's kind of a scumbag.
He's not a great guy.
He doesn't really deserve peace.
He even fought against David at points in his life.
But you know what?
David is kind of a picture of Christ in the sense
that Christ just wants us to be reconciled.
Christ just wants peace.
Christ just wants us to have,
and you know, when he shows up, he gets a feast.
How did he deserve a feast?
I mean, what did he do to deserve a feast at any point?
No, he just gets the feast with him.
Kind of makes us how we get to just feast with Jesus,
and it's like, we don't deserve it.
We're just kind of showing up,
and if you're gonna look at our rap sheet,
you know, we're gonna look at our issues, our sins.
It's like, why are you feasting with this guy, you know?
And it just kind of is a picture of how Jesus
also went on the scene, feasting with a lot of people
that didn't really deserve it,
people that had kind of a sordid history.
But you know what?
You can always get right with Jesus.
Jesus is always ready for you
to come to that banqueting table.
Jesus is always ready for you to get close to him.
You know, tell it to Jesus, right?
As we sang earlier.
So he gets to go home, goes on peace.
Verse 22, and behold, the servants of David and Joab
came from pursuing a troop
and brought in a great spoil with them.
But Abner was not with David and Hebron,
for he had sent him away, and he was gone in peace.
When Joab and all the hosts that was with him were come,
they told Joab, saying,
"'Abner, the son of Nur, came to the king,
"'and he has sent him away, and he has gone in peace.'
"'Then Joab came to the king and said,
"'What hast thou done?
"'Behold, Abner came unto thee.
"'Why is it that thou hast sent him away,
"'and he is quite gone?
"'Thou knowest, Abner, the son of Nur,
"'that he came to deceive thee,
"'and to know thy going out and thy coming in,
"'and to know all that thou doest.'
"'And when Joab was come out from David,
"'he sent messengers after Abner.'"
So if we kind of go with my parable here in a minute
and kind of the symbolism,
if David is Jesus Christ and Abner is us, who's Joab?
The devil.
Coming in, what does the devil do?
He accuses the brethren, doesn't he?
And of course, Joab, in my estimation,
is gaslighting again.
Now, Joab is a very clever character.
In fact, he's very cunning consistently
throughout the Bible.
He'll have other people send messages for him.
He uses guile, he uses deceit.
He's a very cunning and crafty character in the Bible.
He often pictures the devil.
But Joab, he kind of gives this message
like Abner didn't come with true intentions.
Abner didn't really come to make peace.
Abner's still an enemy.
Now, why is Joab saying that?
This is why Joab is saying this,
because Joab is gonna kill Abner.
He already has decided that.
He already knows he's gonna do it.
But you know what?
If he just goes and kills Abner when he made peace,
that's not gonna look very good.
But what if he convinces everybody
that Abner was really a spy,
that Abner was really there on bad intentions,
is actually a secret enemy,
and then he killed him, then Joab's a hero, you know?
It's kind of like if all these Trump supporters
showed up at the Capitol to protest election fraud,
were really there to overthrow the government or whatever,
then that changes the whole motive
and the whole narrative there, right?
And of course, if we can gaslight people
in demonizing them and saying they're the enemy,
then we can do whatever we want to them,
and we're the hero.
We could throw them in prison without rights,
and it doesn't look like a human's right violation,
because look how evil these people were.
So they have to gaslight the narrative.
They have to spread all these lies and false information.
When they turn over Jesus,
they're like, this guy's a malefactor.
Why?
They have to gaslight the narrative,
because if they don't,
it makes them look really bad, doesn't it?
And so often, people that are gonna be killed,
it's already been planned that they're gonna be killed,
there'll be a gaslighting narrative
that comes out about them for a little while beforehand,
and it's basically to just garner the support,
garner the attention.
It's just like, hey, there's this guy
who's just really, really bad.
His name is Vladimir Putin, and he is just so horrible,
and just the worst person, and just so bad,
and someone should just take him out, and blah, blah, blah.
It's like, why do you think they put those kinda narratives?
Because if everybody's just like, yeah, okay, yeah.
But what if you never said that narrative?
What if just all of a sudden, just like,
hey, the US just took out the Russian leader?
It'd be like, what just happened?
But if you can kinda slowly build this narrative,
you can slowly demonize someone
and make them sound like the worst person ever,
then when you finally take them out, it's just like,
oh, yeah, we're the hero.
Oh, yeah, we're the good guy, you know?
And of course, they're not gonna ever pick somebody
that's that great anyways.
It's already somebody that's kinda bad.
You know, Hitler wasn't really a great guy,
but they probably said some things about him
that weren't that true.
Oh, you love Hitler?
No, no, I don't love Hitler, okay?
Hitler was wicked as hell, all right?
I'm glad he was stopped, I'm glad he was killed.
But at the end of the day,
it's like sometimes you have people that aren't that bad
and they start demonizing them,
they start gaslighting against them, why?
And a preemptive way to then kill them,
do evil to them, and it looks good, okay?
So that's an important narrative to understand
of what Joab is saying and what Joab is doing here
against Abner.
What proof did Joab show?
What evidence does Joab have?
When did Joab talk to Abner?
All Joab does is just bring false accusation.
And you know, it's just like the devil and it's a railer.
Railers love to tell you all about somebody,
and it's like, how do you know that?
How do you not know that?
It's Abner.
We all know Abner.
Abner's just, you know, bad.
Abner's a wicked person or whatever.
Beware of the person that comes and whispers in your ear
and tells you about this bad church member,
and it's like, well, did you see them do the bad thing?
It's like, no.
You have any evidence of this?
No.
Were you involved in these conversations?
No, but I know that they're bad.
I know they're a deceiver.
I know that they're wicked.
And almost every time I throw out a railer of our church,
this is their modus operandi.
They just pick somebody and they just start demonizing them
to me or demonizing them to other people.
And it's like, well, how do you know?
I just have that feeling.
I just know, I can tell, I can't believe you see it.
I don't know why you like that person or whatever.
And it's just like, we need some cold art facts here.
You're not really operating in facts.
You're working in fiction.
And Joab is doing this so what?
He can end up stabbing in the knife into Abner, okay?
He hates Abner is what the real motivation is here.
And if David was paying attention,
he probably should have been like,
hey, Joab, why don't you stay away from Abner?
Sounds like you've got some issues here.
You need to figure out before we figure this out.
Now, it says that Joab ended up sending messengers
unto Abner, and it says in the latter part of 26,
which brought him again from the well of Sirah,
but David knew it not.
So David doesn't actually know what's going on.
But again, David doesn't really seem
to pay a lot of attention to things.
Verse 27, and when Abner was returned to Hebron,
Joab took him aside in the gate to speak with him quietly
and smote him there under the fifth rib that he died
for the blood of Asahel, his brother.
Now, here's the thing, Abner's kind of an idiot.
And like, I really don't understand this passage, okay?
I think that it's just sometimes we get on a high
that we let our guard loose,
is the only way I can explain this.
Because Abner, right before he killed Asahel,
what did he say?
Hey, if I kill you, how am I gonna show my face unto Joab?
Okay?
Knowing that Joab's gonna wanna kill me.
So then you show, the next time you see Joab,
and he's like, hey, I wanna talk to you privately.
It's like, you know, this is kind of like in Vegas,
when they're like, hey, let's go out in the desert and talk.
It's like, why?
Why do we need to go out and come alone?
You know, it's just like at midnight.
It's just like, that's not the time
you wanna meet with somebody, okay?
And then of course, Abner, I don't know why he did it.
Maybe he was on a high.
I don't know what lies Joab may have told him,
but you know, we wanna be careful
the situation we put ourselves in.
And notice Abner, all of his sins
caught up to him, didn't it?
The killing of Asahel,
the fact that he was on the wrong side of the battle,
the fact that he ends up sleeping with this concubine,
notice it all adds up, and then Abner,
it just comes like a ton of bricks.
And not only did he die, he died in a dishonorable way.
He didn't even die in an honorable way.
You know, there's one way to die
where it's kind of honorable,
dying for Christ, dying for righteous cause,
and then there's just dying in a stupid way,
in a stupid reason, stupid fight,
you know, going to buy sneakers.
You know, that's not a cool way to die.
You know, it's like, what is this?
You know, you died like an idiot.
You died like a fool.
And we have here in the passage, as we keep reading,
it says in verse number, what am I, 27?
Yeah, sorry, verse 28.
And afterward, when David heard it, he said,
I and my kingdom are guiltless before the Lord forever
from the blood of Abner, the son of Nur.
Let it rest in the head of Joab
and on all his father's house,
and let there not fail from the house of Joab
one that hath an issue, or that is a leper,
or that leaneth on a staff, or that falleth on the sword,
or that lacketh bread.
This is intense, okay?
David hears about this, and what's David's reaction?
David is like, okay, well, I'm so glad I didn't do that,
but you know what?
Joab is gonna be so cursed, and his whole family,
that I hope that there's not even just one person
in his family that doesn't have at least an issue, you know,
or at least a leper, or at least leans on a staff,
or at least falls on a sword,
or just is starving, lacking bread.
I mean, he's just like,
there's gotta be some serious repercussions,
and not even one person in his family will escape
the consequences of their father's sin.
That's severe, okay?
He's basically cursing him.
He's cursing Joab, and he's cursing all of his children,
and again, we don't wanna always take all of these things
to over the top, but if we keep with our parable,
the children of the devil and the devil
are cursed, aren't they?
And so we kinda have this picture of Joab
and the consequences of his sin.
Notice, this is not a great fun chapter.
I'm just being honest with you.
It's just like, this guy does this bad thing
and horrible sin, and then horrible consequences,
and then horrible sin, and then horrible consequences,
horrible sin, but you know what's interesting
about this chapter?
No one's getting away with anything.
No one is getting away with anything,
and that's an important point to realize,
and even Joab, who's the second in command,
he would think he's like a great guy on the surface,
he has a lot of serious issues,
and the Bible doesn't act like he's a great guy.
David doesn't act like he's a great guy.
Think about this.
When Abner dies, is Abner his general or not?
He was never his general.
Joab is his general, right?
When Abner dies, Saul, I'm sorry, David is sad.
How does David feel with Joab dying?
Well, keep your finger here,
and go to 1 Kings chapter number two for a moment.
Go to 1 Kings chapter number two.
And think about this.
Abner didn't really do many good things for David.
He fought against David.
He was an enemy unto David.
He slept with Saul's concubine.
I mean, Abner literally promoted his enemy, Ish-bosheth,
because when David was telling the inhabitants
of Jabesh Gilead, you know, it kind of seems
like David's the narrator in that whole narrative,
he's explaining that Abner's the one that did this, okay?
So from David's perspective,
Abner's not this like wonderful person
or something like that.
But he's sad when Abner dies.
Let's think about how David feels about Joab.
1 Kings chapter number two, verse one.
Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die,
and he charged Solomon his son, saying,
I go the way of all the earth,
be thou strong therefore, and show thyself a man,
and keep the charge of the Lord thy God
to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes,
and his commandments, and his judgments,
and his testimonies, as it is written the law of Moses.
Thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest,
and whithersoever thou turnest thyself,
that the Lord may continue his word,
which he spake, concerning me,
saying, if thy children take heed to their way
to walk before me in truth with all their heart,
and with all their soul, there should not fail thee,
said he, a man on the throne of Israel.
Moreover, thou knowest also what Joab,
the son of Zariariah, did to me,
and what he did to the two captains of the host of Israel,
unto Abner the son of Ner,
and unto Amasa the son of Jethur,
whom he slew, and shed the blood of war and peace,
and put the blood of war upon his girdle
that was about his loins,
and in his shoes that were on his feet.
Do therefore, according to thy wisdom,
and let not his whore head go down to the grave in peace.
Now that's intense, okay?
David is like, hey, Solomon, come here.
You're gonna become king.
Now, I got a task for you.
Don't let Joab die an old man.
Don't let him die in his deathbed.
Don't let him go to sleep and not wake up.
Bring him down, okay?
That is way different.
Then think about how David feels about every other person.
Saul, he doesn't want Saul to die.
He's not willing to be complicit in Saul's death.
Abner, he's sad.
When Abner dies, Joab, kill him.
In fact, if you read this chapter, skip down.
It's kind of a longer chapter.
But look at verse number 29.
And it was told King Solomon Joab was fled
in the tabernacle of the Lord,
and behold, he is by the altar.
Then Solomon sent Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada,
saying, go, fall upon him.
And Benaiah came to the tabernacle of the Lord
and said unto him, thus saith the king,
come forth, and he said, nay, but I will die here.
And Benaiah brought the king word again,
saying, thus saith Joab, and thus he answered me.
And the king said unto him, do as he has said,
and fall upon him and bury him,
that thou mayest take away the innocent blood
which Joab shed from me and from the house of my father.
And the Lord shall return his blood upon his own head,
who fell upon two men more righteous and better than he,
and slew them with the sword,
my father David not knowing thereof to wit,
Abner the son of Ner, captain of the host of Israel,
and Amazeth the son of Jethur, captain of the host of Judah.
Their blood shall therefore return upon the head of Joab
and upon the head of his seed forever.
But upon David and upon his seed,
and upon his house and upon his throne,
shall there be peace forever from the Lord.
This is intense.
He's saying, hey, Joab and his house cursed forever,
David and his house blessed forever, seed and seed.
Again, I'm taking the spiritual picture here.
You see Christ and his seed blessed forever,
the devil and his seed are cursed forever, okay?
This is the only person, you know,
that was like really with David,
that David seems fine with killing or wanting to be killed.
You know, you kind of have a couple other people
who wants to clean up,
but they weren't like his buddies or anything like that.
They weren't really on his team.
They were just reprobates all the time.
So it's like, you know, but we have here Joab
is someone that David, interestingly enough,
has no problem with taking him out.
And that's really interesting
because David consistently through the Bible
never wants evil to come on God's people,
never wants any of God's people to ever be destroyed.
Now, I don't know, you know, some people say,
I think Joab's definitely saved or he's definitely unsaved.
I'm not ready to make a determination there,
but I have to say in light of a lot of these passages,
it doesn't look very good for Joab.
Now, Joab does show himself to be a great man of courage.
He takes the first city
and that's why he even became the general.
At some points when David's supposed to count
the children of Israel, Joab kind of is abhorred,
which in my mind almost pictures like he does somewhat
appreciate the Lord's commandments.
So it's kind of a mixed bag character,
but either Joab is like the worst Christian ever,
or he's just not saved, you know,
and he's like a Judas Iscariot type.
And I can't really, maybe through studying more
I'll come to a better conclusion.
It doesn't really matter to me though,
because the shadow types are always the most important
thing, you know, whether the person was saved or unsaved,
doesn't really matter because he still pictures the devil
consistently throughout this passage.
And it's important to also realize that Joab also
not getting away with his sin.
Joab does not go to the grave in peace.
And in fact, who suffers from Joab's decisions?
His whole family.
Who suffered from David's decisions?
His family.
Who suffers from your decisions?
Your family.
Have you seen a consistent theme here,
enough men to warn you?
Like you don't want to be this honorable man.
You want to raise a godly family.
You want to do that, which is right,
so that your children don't go down a dark path.
Your children don't go to the devil.
Your children don't end up making horrible decisions
in the future.
You know, it takes a lot of sacrifice.
It takes a lot of humility for a man to raise
a godly family because he can't just always be thinking
about himself.
This is what often separates a married man
from a single guy, is the selfish factor.
Because you just, there's just something,
when you become a parent, you're just forced
to not be selfish.
Because you cannot be a selfish.
Now you can try, but it just, you know,
you're forced to still think about other people.
And you have these completely needy, independent children.
And they're the greatest thing that's ever happened to me.
I love my children to death.
But every child, no matter how great they are,
they need their parents.
They're fully dependent upon their parents, okay?
And so it forces you to, you have to pick them up.
It's like, if they don't get picked up,
they're not getting off the ground.
If no one puts clothes on them, they're not getting clothes.
If no one bathes them, they're not getting bathed.
If no one feeds them, they're not getting fed.
I mean, you just have to do those things.
You know, someone has to do it.
You know, whereas when you're single,
it's just you do whatever you want.
It's so easy.
Life is so fun.
It's so carefree.
I mean, you just could do whatever you want.
You don't have to worry about other people
or think about other people.
And sometimes it's real obvious.
It's like, oh yeah, okay, great, you know?
But that's a part of maturity that happens,
and it's a lot of times forced upon you.
Now, I'm not saying every single person's like that,
but 99.999%.
And it's something that you have to kind of think about,
why did God give me this children?
It's to make you a better person too.
It helps mature you.
It helps grow you as a person,
to help think about other people's needs,
to become empathetic,
to realize that people depend on you.
And, you know,
Joab is just a really selfish person in the Bible.
I don't really see Joab really caring about other people.
You know, he doesn't really care about Abner.
He doesn't really care.
Why doesn't Joab want peace?
You know why Joab doesn't want peace?
Because he's threatened that Abner will replace him.
He's threatened in losing his power,
and so he just wants to kill Abner.
And he really just, he's too hard for David.
Go back to this passage,
and we'll see what David says.
It says in verse 30,
So Joab and Abishai's brothers slew Abner,
because he had slain their brother Asahel at Gibeon
in the battle, and David said to Joab,
and all the people that were with him,
render your clothes and gird you with sackcloth,
and mourn before Abner.
And King David himself followed the bire.
And they buried Abner in Hebron,
and the king lifted up his voice,
and wept at the grave of Abner,
and all the people wept,
and the king lamented over Abner and said,
died Abner as a fool dieth?
Thy hands were not bound, nor thy feet put into fetters.
As a man fall before wicked men, so fellest thou.
And all the people wept again over him,
when all the people came to cause David to eat meat,
while as yet David swears, saying,
so do God to me, and more also if I taste bread,
or aught else till the sun be down.
And all the people took notice of it,
and it pleased them,
as whatsoever the king did please all the people.
For all the people in all Israel understood that day
that it was not of the king to slay Abner the son of Ner.
And the king said unto his servants,
no ye not that there is a prince and a great man
fallen this day in Israel.
And I am this day weak, though anointed king,
and his men the sons of Zairiah, be too hard for me.
The Lord shall reward the doer of evil,
according to his wickedness.
And hey, you wanna summarize this chapter?
The Lord shall reward the doer of evil,
according to his wickedness.
Hey, that's for everybody.
Every person, you do evil, God will reward you.
You know, you constantly say like,
why do I have to just sow church, and Bible reading,
Bible memorization, and all this stuff?
Well, let me tell you something.
You know what you're not gonna reap
when you sow that?
Evil.
You know what, the God is not gonna reward all this evil
when you're constantly doing that which is right,
and blessing the Lord.
You know, obviously tribulation and persecution can come,
and I get that.
But you know what's gonna, the real evil comes
from you sowing wickedness,
from you sowing sin in your life.
You know, the curse causeless shall not come
is what the Bible says.
Now, I'm not saying that we don't go through hard times,
I'm not saying that bad things won't happen
to a godly person.
Obviously, Joab is a great character in the Bible,
and you know, evil comes upon him
in the sense of losing his family and everything like that.
But it was a trial and a temptation
that God ended up helping him overcome,
and he was more blessed in the end than the beginning.
None of these people are more blessed in the end
than they were in the beginning, okay?
True evil has befallen them,
and notice how David is sad for Abner.
Abner killed Asahel, right?
But David still mourns at his death
and has a funeral for him.
What about Joab?
He doesn't care about him.
Okay, notice there's a complete difference
between these two people, and of course,
the death was even in a different circumstance.
They were in complete battle, and there were some wounds
and some things flown or whatever,
but David can get past that.
But you know what, he can't get past the bloodshed and peace
because that was super wicked.
That was super evil, what Joab is doing.
And what I liken this onto an application
I could think of making today is that sometimes,
you know, in the new IFB, people get a little too hard.
People want to get, they love hard preaching,
but they love a little too hard of preaching, okay?
And what I mean by that is they want to take somebody
that's a saved child of God doing work for the Lord,
and they want to kill them.
They want to destroy them.
They want to see them suffer.
They want to get them back.
And you know what, that's the wrong attitude, okay?
Obviously, sometimes, even a saved person,
there's gonna be a little bit of conflict.
There's gonna be a little punching back and forth.
You know, there's gonna be casualties on both sides,
and that's life, you know?
Not everybody's gonna be at complete peace.
But you know what, to just wish these people
just complete death and destruction
is not the right spirit.
You know, it makes me think of the disciples
when they're going with Jesus.
They go through one of the towns of Samaria
and they don't receive them, and they're like,
well, let's just cast down fire and burn up the city.
Let's do it.
And then Jesus is like,
you know not what spirit you're above, okay?
Why, because it's like, hey, they didn't go through Sodom.
They went through Samaria, okay?
Now let's say Samaria is not that great.
Samaria is not really turning to the Lord.
This is your really liberal Christians, okay?
If you can even call them that, right?
But they're not Sodomites.
They're not reprobates or whatever.
And I see sometimes people,
they wanna reprobate Samarians.
They wanna reprobate people that are not reps, you know?
They do bad things.
They made some major mistakes.
They've done some evil things,
but they're not worthy of just death and destruction.
And we have to be careful that we don't go over the board,
over the top and start trying to attack people.
You know, I've seen even people in this church,
not currently, they got thrown out for being a railer,
but they would just be so over the top
when someone turned out to be bad.
They would want just so much evil and just bad things.
And not justified.
You know, if someone gets thrown out of our church
for railing, we shouldn't wish
that them and their whole family die, you know?
That would be a horrible, wicked thing, right?
We want them to feel conviction from the Holy Spirit
to apologize, to get it right,
and be restored back to the Lord, okay?
That's what we would desire.
You know, with Abner, it's like, what do we want for Abner?
We want Abner to be convicted of a sin, get right with David,
be restored back into the fellowship,
back in the congregation, and move on.
And at worst case scenario, just say,
hey, I don't like Abner.
He killed my brother.
So you know what?
I'm just gonna leave him alone,
but I'm not gonna go and stab him under the fifth rib.
You know what I mean?
And there's sometimes, you know,
with the quote, unquote, new IFB,
there was some people that were just straight reprobate,
okay, that were like in this group,
and some pastors, you know, like that.
Justin LeBlanc and Tyler Doka,
those guys are reprobates, okay?
I have no problem saying that they're reprobate.
I mean, they taught just such clear false doctrine
in regards to salvation and all kinds of weird junk,
teaching people are gonna go to the lake of fire
and just all kinds of bizarre nonsense.
It's like, okay, that person's just a complete reprobate.
I hope nothing good happens to him, okay?
You know, you got other weirdos and freaks
like Tyler Baker denying the Trinity,
denying the sonship of Jesus Christ.
I don't want anything good for that person, okay?
But then you have other people that were, you know,
quote, unquote, they like us,
they're our friends or whatever,
but then they just, for some reason,
they just don't like us.
For some reason, they just started preaching against us,
railing on us, doing weird junk, okay?
And it's okay to call them out for that.
It's okay to say that's not right.
It's okay to distance yourself from them.
You know what I don't want?
I don't wanna go and stab them under the fifth rib.
And I don't want my church members to go
and stab them under the fifth rib.
And I don't want my church members to hate on them
or think evil of them.
And even right now, I mean, there's people,
it's like if they came up to me and they were like,
hey, I'm sorry, you know, I've been kind of a loser,
you know, it's like, yeah.
And they're like, but I don't, you know,
I wanna make peace.
It's like, okay.
Or even, you know, even if they didn't even do that,
I could think of people that I preached against
or I don't like, or I have no fellowship with,
even if they come in and say,
hey, I'm in trouble, I need help.
Would you help me?
I probably would.
Cause it's still a child of God, you know.
I don't wanna just,
I don't wanna turn away a child of God
or just act like I couldn't even help a child of God.
I don't wanna get this weird attitude
or you know, what if someone railed on you
and they were a bad person, but they're saved
and they end up becoming friends with one of your friends.
Okay.
You know, that could happen.
And you know, what would be the right response?
Is the right response to go and kill them
or torch everybody?
Or is it just be like, you know what?
I don't think you should hang out with that guy.
I don't like that guy, but whatever, you do you.
You know, he couldn't, Joab said that,
hey, he killed my brother,
so I'm not gonna be friends with him.
But David, if you guys are cool, then whatever.
You know, I mean, doesn't that make sense?
I mean, does David have to break up with him
just because Joab doesn't like him?
Does he have to not be his friend
just because of that reason?
You know, we don't wanna get this over the top thing.
Why can't be friends with someone
that's friends with a heretic
or friends with this friend that I don't like
or you have to be friends with all of my friend list
or we all have to agree on our friends list
or we have to all be in the same inner circle
or we all have to like each other.
You know, that's stupid.
It's childish, it's pedantic.
I've had pastors act like that.
And I said, hey, well just make sure,
give me your email so I can email you
my friends, friends, friends list
just so I make sure that we can be friends.
You know, it's gonna take a while
for me to create that list or whatever,
but it's just like,
what kind of a stupid relationship is that?
If someone's saying like,
you know, I can't be friends with your friend's friend,
you know, it's like, then don't, right?
I don't wanna hold that standard against you
and I don't want you to hold that standard against me.
Now, obviously, if I'm hanging out with someone
and they're just talking trash on my friend,
you know, that's not acceptable, that's not cool.
I don't wanna hang out with that person.
We still have boundaries, we still wanna have integrity,
but we don't wanna be a Joe Ab that's just ready
to just avenge everything and reprobate everyone
and just kill anything and just like,
Abner's is a bad guy, kill him.
You know, he's not with us, kill him.
You know what?
Hey, just because they're not on our special team
doesn't make them a bad person.
Doesn't make them someone that God can't use.
And don't get this over the top cult attitude
that's like, well, if you're not in the new IFB,
God's done with you, you're a reprobate or something.
You know, if you don't go to steadfast Baptist church,
you're not even saved.
You know, that would be a stupid attitude.
I never ever want that attitude in our church.
I never, I would preach so hard against it.
You know, there's plenty of people that are saved
that will never come to our church.
We meet them out sowing all the time.
I met a couple today and I'm like,
they would not wanna come to our church.
They would not wanna fit in, they would hate my preaching.
She was pretty much telling me
that she wouldn't like my preaching, but she was saved.
And I'm thinking like, well, you know,
more important to my church is that you're going to heaven.
You know, and I'm glad that you're going to heaven,
raised Baptist, doesn't wanna live like a Baptist,
but you know what?
You don't have to live like a Baptist to be saved.
And you don't have to live like David to be in the club.
You know what?
You just have to make peace with David.
Go to Hebrews chapter 10,
this is the last place I want you to turn,
Hebrews chapter number 10 in the Bible.
So again, just because someone screws up or is bad
or has done something wrong,
we don't wanna go over the top and treat them bad.
We don't wanna reciprocate evil for evil.
We wanna reciprocate blessing for evil, you know,
and even hope good for them.
You know, the Bible talks about praying for your enemies,
loving your enemies, doing good unto your enemies.
You know, if he's asking for food, give him food.
You know, if he asks for your coat, give him your cloak.
Also, if he asks you to walk a mile, walk with him twain.
You know, all those verses are in the Bible for a reason.
Obviously, they're not for the sick freak culture
that's out here in this world that, you know, hates God.
We're not doing that for them.
But our brothers and sisters in Christ
that just don't like us, of course, they're on the list.
Of course, they're the people that we should be applying
all these verses to on a regular basis.
And you know what?
Our culture should be, hey, steadfast likes you
even though you don't like us.
Amen.
Hey, steadfast wants to be your friend
even when you don't wanna be our friend, okay?
Now, we'll preach against all your sin,
but at the same time, we'll still wanna be your friend.
We'll still wanna hang out.
We'll still want you to come show up
and go soul winning with us.
But you know what?
At the end of the day, you know,
we don't wanna be this group that's just like,
we're just so much better than everybody else
and nobody can be like us and, you know,
God just loves us so much more than everybody else.
Cause wouldn't it be easy for Joe to be like,
oh, God just loves me so much more than Abner.
But wait, did David really like Joe more than Abner?
What did Solomon say?
Solomon said that Abner and Amasa
were more righteous than him.
What was so righteous about Abner again?
That's a pretty big insult.
I mean, think about like a really scummy bad Christian,
backslidden Christian that's not going to church.
And it's like, hey, I just wanna let you know
that guy's more righteous than you.
It's like, whoa.
That also tells me this.
There are people that come to this church
three times a week, plugged in, show up at all events,
and God likes the backslidden Christian
doing nothing more than some of them.
What?
Why?
Because it's all about your heart.
It's about the right intentions, the right motivations.
Job doesn't have the right motivations.
Job is a selfish, envious person.
We don't even know if he's saved.
I hope he is.
I hope I can go up and shake his hand, you know, in heaven.
But I don't know that for sure.
And if I, you know, studying the Bible,
maybe I'd figure it out better,
but if you know, you can tell me later, all right?
But what was the point of the sermon?
There's a consequence of sin.
Look at Hebrews chapter number 10 and verse 26.
For if we sin willfully,
after that we receive the knowledge of the truth,
there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins,
but a certain fearful looking for
of judgment and fiery indignation,
which shall devour the adversaries.
He that despised Moses' law died without mercy
under two or three witnesses.
Of how much sorer punishment,
suppose ye, shall ye be thought worthy
of trodden underfoot the Son of God,
and accounted the blood of the covenant,
wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing,
and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace.
For we know him that hath said, vengeance belongeth unto me.
I will recompense, saith the Lord.
And again, the Lord shall judge, notice this, his people.
God shall judge his people.
God judge David.
God judge Ishmael Sheth.
God judge Abner.
God judge Flathiel.
God judge Michal.
God judge Joab.
God judge all of these people.
God judge his people.
And if they had to suffer evil punishment,
how much more suppose ye and me,
we've been sanctified by the blood of Jesus Christ.
We know the whole story.
We have the New Testament.
We've been given more than they have.
We have more blessings.
We have the better Testament.
We have the New Testament.
How much more if we commit these sins?
How much more if we forsake the Lord?
How much more if we become selfish?
How much more if we are concerned
with ourselves rather than others?
And I beg you and I plead you,
take the Christian life seriously.
Cause those that don't, you know, you say,
what if it's just me and Pastor Schell in the room?
Well, you know what?
All the other people are gonna be suffering
a lot of consequences
because God's gonna judge his people.
You don't give up on God.
You keep serving him.
You keep doing that which is right.
And you be afraid that God will do to you
what you read in this chapter.
Let's close and pray.
Thank you Heavenly Father for giving us a story of reality.
We know that reality sometimes can be ugly.
So there's a lot of sin.
We're very sinful creatures.
And I pray that we would always seek Jesus.
We would seek that advocate with the Father.
That we'd seek peace.
We'd seek grace.
That we would constantly be in service to you.
That we would be in constant fear
that you will judge us.
That we know that our sins do have consequences.
We know that our sin sent the Lord Jesus Christ
to the cross and that you take sin very seriously.
Even though we live in a very sinful
and adulterous generation.
Even though we live in a world that has no fear of God.
That lives as if there's no consequence to sin.
I pray that we wouldn't be foolish like them.
That we wouldn't become ignorant like them.
That we'd be reminded in chapters like 2 Samuel 3
that there is a serious consequence to sin.
That there is a reward to serving God.
That we wouldn't walk by sight
but rather we'd walk by faith.
Knowing that there is a reward
to those that diligently seek you.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
For our last song, this is Psalm 150
in our separate Psalm handouts.
I have a couple more up here.
If you just use even your Bible, that'll work.
I don't know if anybody needs one.
Psalm 150.
We do have a little coda there at the end
but other than that, it's faithful to the text.
Psalm 150, there on the first.
Praise ye the Lord, praise God in his sanctuary.
Praise him in the firmament of his power.
Praise him for his mighty acts.
Praise him according to his excellent greatness.
Praise him with the sound of the trumpet.
Praise him with the sultry hands.
Praise him with the timbrel and dance.
Praise him with stringed instruments and organs.
Praise him upon the loud cymbals.
Praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.
Let everything that hath breath.
Praise the Lord, praise ye the Lord.
Praise God the Father, praise God the Son.
Praise God the Holy Ghost, praise God in three her sons.
God bless you, you're dismissed.